練習文章1

As a professional television critic, i have had to endure a forced, contractual separation from the discriminating TV viewer’s favorite phrase: “You couldn’t pay me to watch that.” But that’s how I feel about miniseries. To me, they are beach reading without the beach, airport reading with the airport. They last just the wrong amount of time- they don’t have the compressed energy of a short story, and they’re not expansive and open-ended, like a regular series or a novel. A miniseries is like an infomercial- by the time you decide whether you want to buy the product, you’ve logged too many hours in front of the television.

Q1, The statement (To me… airport) serves to

A advance an opinion through a comical story

B justify a criticism by citing evidence

C express a negative sentiment in humorous terms

D analyze a theory by citing everyday examples

E note a pressing problem by describing its consequences

Q2, The statement　(A miniseries…. Television), the author makes use of which of the following?

A Allusion

B Analogy

C Understatement

D Personification

E Euphemism

練習文章2

From the start, Cirque de Soleil was hardly a conventional circus. It had outrageous costumes, original music, and clever performers- but no animals. Despite the dearth of beasts, it was a rousing success. Those initial decisions were brilliant, since they essentially redefined the genre. By not featuring animals, cirque eliminated one of the most costly and controversial parts of any circus. And by shifting the focus from an event geared to kids to one designed for adults, cirque pulled in an audience the traditional circus had never seen: adult theatergoers accustomed to paying steeper ticket prices.

Q3, The passage focuses primarily on which characteristic of the founders of Cirque De Soleil?

A Their innovativeness

B Their impracticality

C Their perseverance

D Their interest in the performing arts

E Their disdain for training animals

Q4, Why does the author consider Cirque de Soleil a success?

A It survived a series of nearly devastating challenges.

B It provided a new source of entertainment for parents.

C It was an outlet for the designers’ creative impulses.

D It made a number of shrewd financial decisions.

E It rescued an obsolete genre from near oblivion.

正確答案: C, B, A, D

解析:

第一篇文章講述了作者對miniseries的看法，從文章得出作者持否定觀點，認為觀看miniseries浪費時間,故第9題選C。第10題是SAT閱讀�？碱}型，考查修辭手法，通讀全文的內(nèi)容可以得知，他運用了類比的修辭方式，因此答案選B。第二篇文章講述了了一個名為Cirque的馬戲團成功的原因，其中創(chuàng)新是必不可少的一項。通過第一句就可以得知第11題的答案為A。作者認為Cirque成功的原因是在于它在各個關鍵時刻做出的正確決定，故12題答案選D。

難度系數(shù) : 中